Offering the mobile and facebook apps gave people another fundraising avenue, providing an easier, more immediate way for participants to promote their involvement and raise sponsorship. It also meant Helen & Douglas House was in a position to benefit from those spur of the moment desires to donate that we would otherwise have missed out on.

Introducing Mobile Fundraising sees Donations Rocket!

Oxford-based hospice Helen & Douglas House provides palliative, respite, end of life, and bereavement care to life-limited children and young adults, and their families. Its Santas on the Run event, in which participants raise money by completing a two-mile course in Oxford, dressed as Santas, takes place each December to raise funds and awareness of its work in and around the local area.

Participant numbers and income had been steadily increasing each year since the event’s 2007 launch, but Helen & Douglas House wanted to build greater awareness of its work in and around Oxford to grow local support, and increase the money raised through the Santas on the Run event to help fund its work.

The Friendship-Powered Fundraising App is the first event fundraising platform to run entirely inside Facebook, and is unique in allowing charity supporters to stay within Facebook even for donation payments, regardless of channel or device, so encouraging more people to donate. The app automatically creates a personal fundraising page for registrants within Facebook, enabling them to fundraise online, as well as entirely within this platform. Using Facebook also made it easy to spread the word and encourage sponsorship.

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Santas on the Run Facts & figures

• Event raised just under£30K
• Registrant numbers increased by 13.2%
• Mobile donations rose by 81.5%
• Average amount raised by own loaders of the app was £71.62 compared to £17.55 for non-users

The apps had a hugely positive impact on the results for the 2013 Santas on the Run event with donations made via the mobile app showing a dramatic increase on the previous year’s event.

Offering the mobile and facebook apps gave people another fundraising avenue, providing an easier, more immediate way for participants to promote their involvement and raise sponsorship. It also meant Helen & Douglas House was in a position to benefit from those spur of the moment desires to donate that we would otherwise have missed out on.